The present invention relates to a storable bed and especially to a bed which is pivotal from a horizontal position to an upright storage position.
The commonly known Murphy Bed or xe2x80x9cWall Bedxe2x80x9d was invented by William L. Murphy of California in the early 1900""s. His design, still in use today, utilizes a bed frame that pivots upward into a vertical position for storage when not in use as a bed. For sleeping, the bed is pivoted downward to a horizontal position. To assist the user in raising and lowering the bed, a set of tension springs are employed to offset the weight of the mattress/foundation and bed frame, thereby reducing the required physical effort. The springs are, in essence, attached to the floor of the building by means of a steel base frame. This steel base frame is attached to the floor with a minimum of six bolts. In the case of a concrete floor, holes are drilled into the concrete and specialized expanding anchor bolts are utilized for fastening. For wood floors (including hardwood), lag bolts are screwed directly into the floor. If the floor is carpeted, the carpet and padding must be cut so that the steel frame can be placed directly against the underlying floor for bolting.
Beds of this type are available in various standard sizes from different manufacturers. The primary benefit of the Murphy Bed/Wall Bed design is that it folds up against the wall when not in use providing a space saving advantage over conventional beds. The major disadvantages are that, due to the requirement for mounting to the floor, the bed cannot be easily relocated and the mounting bolts damage carpets and floors.
Prior art patents for Murphy type beds can be seen in the U.S. Pat. No. 373,599 to Owen for a counterweighted folding bed and in the U.S. Pat. No. 181,450 to Kilburn for a wardrobe bedstead. The I. C. Smith and E. E. Herrinton U.S. Pat. No. 380,223 is for a folding bed which has a plurality of boxes for holding sand or the like as a counterweight. The U.S. Pat. No. 409,606 to Hale is a folding bedstead having counterweights as is the Edmunds U.S. Pat. No. 916,923. The Schulz U.S. Pat. No. 2,724,128 is a covered bed having a counterweight which also suggests the use of a container filled with a pulverized material as a counterweight. The Anderson U.S. Pat. No. 950,362 is a recess bed while the Doring U.S. Pat. No. 244,567 is a wardrobe bedstead. The McAllaster U.S. Pat. No. 1,456,988 is a folding bed as in the Douglass U.S. Pat. No. 1,056,647 for a wall bed.
The present invention is for a Murphy type pivotal bed which swings from a horizontal position to an upright position for storage in the upright position and uses a counterweighted container filled with a fluid material for counterweighting the bed for pivoting from a horizontal to an upright position. The container has a sealable opening adjacent an intersecting edge of the container positioned above the fluid material in the container in both the horizontal and upright positions to prevent leakage from the opening.
A stowable bed apparatus is pivotal from a horizontal bed position to a generally upright storage position and has a base frame with a mattress supporting platform hinged thereto for pivoting between a generally horizontal position and a generally upright position. A counterweight container has a generally flat side intersected along two edges by a generally arcuate side. The container has a sealable opening adjacent one intersecting edge of the flat and arcuate sides for filling the container with a fluid material. The sealable opening is positioned above the fluid material level in the container in both the horizontal and upright positions to thereby prevent leakage from the sealable opening and to allow filling the container from either position.